SITREP #8: CLEAN-UP CONTINUES AT TAJ; CITY BEGINS TO RETURN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000553 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DS/ER/CC DS FRONT OFFICE DS/IP/SCA DS/DSS/ITA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV PREL IN SUBJECT: SITREP #8: CLEAN-UP CONTINUES AT TAJ; CITY BEGINS TO RETURN TO NORMAL MUMBAI 00000553 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Since the ending of tactical operations at the Taj Palace Hotel by National Security Guard (NSG) forces, access to the Taj Hotel has been slow. Police told RSO teams at the hotel that there is still unexploded ordinance in the hotel. There were several explosions in the hotel as late as 1:30 pm. One senior police officer told RSO that bodies are present on every floor in the Heritage wing and, when pressed, estimated there were 40-50 more bodies. According to the hotel's COO, the police have only fully cleared the main lobby, and RSO and Legatt teams do not expect to receive access until at least nighttime. Around 10:30 local time, the Taj Management and Group Chairman Ratan Tata was allowed access to the hotel. A hotel source told Congenoffs that the sixth floor of the Heritage wing has been gutted by fires. ¶2. (SBU) The Consul General traveled to the Taj Palace and Oberoi hotels around 2 pm to pay his condolences to hotel managers and staffs. At the Taj, the CG expressed his condolences to Taj General Manager K.S. Kang, who lost his wife and two children in the attacks (but was still working). The Taj management told a Consular officer that they have an arrival manifest from November 25, which they were using to identify possible guests. (Most of the Taj's occupancy records were destroyed in the fighting or is unavailable.) At the Oberoi, the General Manager told the CG that there were 32 persons were killed: ten staff - one Thai national and nine Indians - and 22 guests. Of the guests, there were three Amcits, one Singaporean, and one Japanese. Nine people were injured, of which two are Americans. Separately, the spouses of the two injured Amcits met with Congenoffs and praised the response of the Indian authorities and Consulate during the crisis. The Amcits plan to take up offers to speak to major U.S. media outlets, possibly in the coming days. ¶3. (SBU) According to S. Jadhav of Mumbai's disaster management cell, the death toll has risen to 195, with the number of injured revised downward to 295. (An estimated 70 to 80 patients able to pay for medical treatment have shifted to private hospitals, so some injured may have been double counted.) Overall, however, much of the city has returned to normal; respite from Mumbai's infamous traffic jams is over, residents are celebrating weddings, and shops and markets are open. However, Delta and KLM/Northwest Airlines have cancelled all outbound flights from Mumbai for the next few days. Who Are the Terrorists? -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Government of Maharashtra officials have acknowledged that police captured one attacker on the night of Wednesday, November 26, who is believed to be a Pakistani citizen. According to unconfirmed reports in the media, who cite confidential police sources, this attacker is Azam Amir Kasav, 21, from Faridkot in Pakistani Punjab. According to the report, Kasav was one of the two men who attacked CST station, Cama hospital, killing at least 47 people; these two later stole a car, shot Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)chief Hemant Karkare and others, and were intercepted by Mumbai police while they were fleeing in Karkare's vehicle. The report said that Kasav pretended to be dead, until the police discovered he was alive, but injured. ¶5. (SBU) Kasav allegedly told the police that were ten assailants in total, who were asked to "kill till their last breath." Each assailant was given two automatic weapons, eight grenades, ammunition and dry fruits. Reportedly, Kasav told police that the group started from Karachi, Pakistan in a ship and then hijacked Indian coastguard and fishing boats by killing those on board, finally reaching Mumbai via speedboats and MUMBAI 00000553 002.2 OF 003 rubber dinghies. After landing in Mumbai, they split into teams of two and four to attack the four targets - CST station, two the hotels, and Nariman House. News stories indicate that the picture of one of the terrorists running and carrying a gun is Kasav. Other unconfirmed electronic media reports say that the Taj hotel management told the police that some attackers might have worked as interns in the hotel; however, the Taj management has denied this. Others in the media have speculated that some of the terrorists had already checked into the hotels with additional weapons to await the arrival of the other attackers. Coverage Muddied by Lack of Information -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The coverage of these terrorist attacks by the Indian media was like any other media event; breathless, aggressive, speculative, and quick to report rumor. The inaccuracy was exacerbated by the lack of reliable official media communication by the state or federal government, or the police, NSG forces, or Army. Media persons relied on comments from police on the scene or personal contacts in the security forces or government, many of whom did not have the complete picture of ongoing operations. In addition, public comments from senior security and government officials often contradicted one another, especially regarding the status of operations at the Taj Hotel. Journalists besieged Congenoffs at the incident sites, complaining that no Indian officials were providing any information; while the media was kept behind a basic perimeter at the sites, some could easily interact with consular officials at assistance areas. With dozens of young television news networks competing for viewers, there is tremendous pressure to scoop the other journalists and report things quickly, whether accurate or not. ¶7. (SBU) Most violent events in India begin and end quickly, and rarely involve security forces higher than local police. With these terrorist attacks, however, central paramilitary forces were called in to dislodge motivated terrorists holed up in hotels with dozens of stairwells, exits, and rooms; lasting nearly 60 hours, this was no easy operation. The length of the operation, however, and the lack of media points of contact - not to mention liaison people for foreign missions - gave ample opportunity for misinformation and panic to spread. These attacks clearly expose the Indian government agencies' lack of coordination in sharing information with each other, as well as with media and diplomatic missions. Mumbaikars Digest the Tragedy -------------- ¶8. (U) Today, vernacular and English language papers emphasized the population's sense of unease after the attacks, in the city of Mumbai, as well as the country as a whole. "The usual talk of resilience and bouncing back somehow rings hollow this time," wrote Kumar Ketkar, editor of the Marathi language newspaper Loksatta. Siddharth Bhatia, editor of the newspaper DNA, said "First, not since the 1993 communal riots and bombings has South Mumbai been affected by this type of violence. The problems that have taken place since have affected North and Central Mumbai, but posh South Mumbai has been untouched. Second, the buildings attacked - Leopold Cafi, the Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi hotels, and CST - are iconic for Mumbaikers." Indeed, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is one of India's most iconic, modern structures, a hotel built by Indians, for Indians, over a century ago. (When a British hotel refused him entry, the founder of the Tata Sons, Jamsedji Tata, built the Taj Palace Hotel after vowing to build the grandest hotel in India.) As a result, opinion writers believe that Mumbai's elite would now feel a connection to these terrorist attacks. MUMBAI 00000553 003.2 OF 003 ¶9. (SBU) Newspapers and columnists continue to convey general anger against Pakistan for the attacks, but so far, writers have not advocated any clear steps against its neighbor. In the town of Nanded in central Maharashtra, BJP activists burnt effigies of "Pakistan," and in Latur (Chief Minister Deshmukh's home district),Congress activists burnt effigies of "terrorism." Congenoffs at the Taj site report that about 40-50 activists from two political parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP),have staged rallies to celebrate the successful operations of Indian security forces. NCP activists also chanted "Down with Pakistan." Mumbaikers circulated a SMS mocking Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray for being unable to help the city when tragedy struck; the message pointed out that it was the NSG forces, composed of outsiders from North and South India, who helped the city in its hour of need. FOLMSBEE